


Shards of Sanity

by HysteriaLevi



Category: Man of Medan
Genre: Gen, Horror, Psychological Horror, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-10 23:16:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20536256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HysteriaLevi/pseuds/HysteriaLevi
Summary: After waking up from a drunken brawl, Joe Roberts finds himself trapped on a ship full of people gone mad, and is forced to survive in a living hell built around his deepest fears. He becomes isolated from the rest of his fallen comrades and ends up being stuck in a nightmare where the biggest threats are the ones he can’t see, and even reality doesn’t trust itself.





	1. Just the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a story I decided to write about Joe where he DOESN'T die in the prologue because, to be honest, I feel like he had a lot of potential as a character and I really wanted to make an entire fanfic focused on him. A lot more people were interested in this idea than I expected lmao, but if you decide to check this story out, please let me know what you think! As for those of you who encouraged me to write this, thank you all for the support, and I hope you enjoy :)

JUNE, 1947

THE OURANG MEDAN

Sprinting through the pitch-black corridor, Joe desperately stormed his way to the other side as he blindly fled through the darkness, his heart damn-near bursting out of his chest.

At the moment, the only things he could hear were his own boots splashing in the puddles of seawater beneath him and the beast’s inhuman shriek echoing throughout the ship.

It was right behind him. He could feel it.

That goddamned thing was right behind him.

And it was going to rip him apart.

“Come on, you piece of shit!” Joe exclaimed as he slammed himself into a door. “Open up!”

The creature emitted yet another miserable howl in the distance, its dreadful scream only encouraging Joe to push harder.

He stepped back and gave the door another forceful shove, but to no avail.

His only means of escape was blocked from the other side.

He’d have to find another way.

Whipping around in a panic, Joe hurriedly glanced over his shoulder and readied his gun, letting out a shaky breath.

He couldn’t see a single thing in this hallway. Everything had been obscured by shadows, and the only source of light he had was the dying lantern hanging loosely from his hand.

Perhaps he could try to hide in the darkness. Joe knew the beast had poor vision, after all. He learned that when it failed to catch him in the cafeteria.

But this was different. There was nowhere for him to hide here. No other way to run.

If the creature didn’t see Joe, it would inevitably smell him. And his bullets were powerless to kill it.

“Okay, okay...” the soldier whispered frantically to himself, “j-just calm down, Joe. Breathe. It’s not real. That thing isn’t real. It-it can’t hurt you. Just stay. Calm.”

Peering into the shadows ahead of him, Joe suddenly froze when he saw a series of sparks flying off the wall as the creature grazed its claw against the surface, emitting a horrible, metallic screech.

“Get away from me!” Joe cried, his voice trembling. “You’re not real! You’re just another hallucination, like everything else on this goddamn boat! Get the fuck out of my head!”

Ignoring his words, the monster only continued with its merciless approach and prowled towards him, steadily revealing its hideous figure in the orange glow of Joe’s lantern.

“No...no! Stay back!”

Flattening himself against the door, Joe tightly shut his eyes in an attempt to get rid of the hallucination, only to see that the creature was still there when he opened them.

“W-Why aren’t you going away...?!” He whimpered through gritted teeth. “You’re supposed to be gone! Leave me alone!”

But his pleas were meaningless to the beast.

The monster stretched its ghastly mouth open once again and let out a horrendous cry, practically rendering Joe deaf right then and there.

It slowly crept towards him, leaving a trail of green slime in its wake.

“No!” Joe fired a shot at its body. “Stop!”

No response.

The beast crawled menacingly in his direction and growled in a feral manner before finally coming to a halt, stopping mere inches away from the soldier.

It leaned its head forward and bared its teeth, snarling viciously in Joe’s face as disgusting ropes of saliva dribbled from its wrinkly mouth.

A strange, yellow gas began seeping through the slits in its awful face, and Joe could’ve sworn he saw a man standing behind the creature.

But none of that mattered right now.

The creature was right in front of him. And Joe had no way out.

He was going to die here.

He was going to die all alone on this godforsaken ship, and no one would ever know.

A harrowing shriek escaped the beast’s throat.

It attacked.

~~~~~~~~~~

EARLIER THAT NIGHT

1:36 A.M.

SICK BAY

“...Pa!” A young boy called out, his innocent voice eerily bouncing off the walls.

“Pa! Wake up! We’re gonna be late!”

Joe froze in his sleep, confused about what he was hearing.

...Toby?

Was that... was that really him?

What was he doing here?

No. It couldn’t have been him. That was impossible. He was still in the States. With Nora.

Joe must’ve been dreaming. He must have. There was no other explanation.

“Come on!” The child repeated, slightly louder this time. “You’re gonna miss breakfast!”

Joe reluctantly blocked out the boy’s words, rolling over onto his side so that his back was facing him.

This wasn’t the first time the soldier had dreamed about his son... but that didn’t make it any less torturous.

The man missed his family more than anything. He was well aware that he acted like an ass sometimes -- hell, he got into a drunken fight with Charlie just a few hours ago -- but deep down, Joe knew he only behaved like that because he was hurting.

He would’ve given anything to be back home right now. Joe missed the sounds of his wife’s humming, of Toby’s laughter, of the dog’s barking, the radio playing, and especially the sporadic sizzling he’d hear from the kitchen every morning.

It used to be Joe’s reality, once upon a time.

But then... the war happened.

Now, his dreams were full of nothing but the chaotic symphonies of men shouting, bullets firing, planes soaring, people dying...

Peace had always been a stranger in Joe’s life.

But he hadn’t lost all hope. Not yet. In fact, the light at the end of the tunnel seemed brighter than ever now.

This ship was going to take him back home. Straight back to America. And then, Joe would be able to see his wife and son again.

He just had to wait a little longer.

“Pa!” Toby called out again.

Waking up with a startled gasp, Joe snapped his eyes open and jumped back into consciousness, only to hear a sudden crack when he accidentally knocked something off the end table.

His head was still aching from the punch the sergeant threw at him earlier -- and due to the cold sweat covering his body -- he couldn’t help but shiver in the chilly temperature of the sick bay. And the sharp ringing in his ears didn’t do much to help either.

Where was everyone? Joe wondered as he sat up.

At the moment, it looked like the medical ward was deserted. There were no other patients or soldiers filling up the beds around him, and the only company he had was a shattered photograph lying on the floor.

The place appeared to be abandoned.

But before Joe even had a chance to investigate anything, another voice was already calling out to him from the side, interrupting his thoughts.

This one, however, was actually real.

“Don’t. Move.” Joe heard them command, followed by the sound of them cocking their gun. “Don’t move a fucking muscle.”

Instantly freezing on the spot, Joe followed their instructions and slowly brought his hands into the air, curious to see who was holding him at gunpoint right now.

What the hell?

Joe furrowed his brow in confusion.

It was one of the doctors.

Why on earth was he aiming a gun at him? What was going on?

What did he do?

“D-Doctor...?” Joe said quietly, not wanting to provoke him. “What... what are you doing?”

The man stepped closer to Joe, practically drilling the barrel of his pistol through the soldier’s forehead.

“Be quiet!” He barked, his bottom lip quivering with tears. “J-Just shut up! I don’t wanna hear a word from you! All these noises, the screaming, the shouting -- I can’t take it anymore. I can’t take it! I just need silence.”

Joe attempted to calm the deranged doctor down, admittedly incredibly confused by what was happening.

“O-Okay,” he complied, softening his tone. “I’ll be quiet. I won’t say anything. Just tell me what’s going on.”

The other man gazed through the small window on the door to the sick bay, his breath trembling with horror.

“It’s following me...” he explained, barely able to speak above a whisper. “It’s following all of us! It chased after Patterson earlier, a-and I don’t know what the hell it did to Perez! But that doesn’t matter. None of this matters. That... thing -- it’ll always find you. Don’t you understand? We’re all gonna die on this ship. We’re all gonna die. And there’s nothing we can do about it!”

Joe gestured to the doctor’s weapon.

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re pointing a gun at my head. Don’t you recognize me, doc? It’s me, Joe! Joe Roberts. I’m on your side!”

That only irritated the other man even further.

“Yeah, that’s what you want me to believe, isn’t it? That’s how you trick us! But I can’t trust anything I see now. Not after everything that’s happened. Hell, I don’t even know if you’re real. I could be talking to the fucking air, for all I know!”

The doctor averted the gun from Joe’s head and gripped his hair out of frustration, letting out a defeated groan. “...It just doesn’t make any sense!”

Taking this opportunity to escape, Joe subtly began rising from the bed and cautiously approached the crazed doctor, hoping to ease his nerves.

“It’s okay, doc,” Joe comforted, moving inch-by-inch. “None of this makes sense to me, either. But we’ll figure it out, alright? We can help each other. Just put the gun down. Please.”

“No!” The doctor snapped, aiming the firearm at Joe once again. “You’re just trying to trick me! Aren’t you?! You’re trying to render me defenseless, so you can attack!”

Joe blinked rapidly out of bewilderment. “What? No! I’m trying to help you, doc. I mean you no harm.”

“That’s what they all say.” He countered, still refusing to back down. “But then... they rip you to shreds the minute you let your guard down. They did it to Miller. I saw it! Those creatures... they tore him apart! Limb-from-limb, until there was nothing left but a pile of offal. I couldn’t even recognize him when they were done.”

The doctor tightened his grip on the pistol. “Well... you’re not gonna get me, you hear? You can do whatever you like, but you’re not gonna kill me... you fucking monster!”

Pulling the trigger, the doctor suddenly fired a bullet straight at Joe’s head with an explosive bang, only to end up hitting the man’s ear when he grabbed the gun in defense.

There was a trail of hot blood now streaming down the side of Joe’s neck, but he barely had any time to recuperate before the doctor tackled him to the floor.

Fighting to the death, the two of them wrestled for control of the gun as they violently rolled around the sick bay, hastily trying to neutralize the other person.

There was less and less humanity in the doctor with every passing minute, and when Joe finally started to gain the upper hand, he was screaming and hollering like a lunatic.

“No!” The doctor bellowed, his voice hoarse with insanity. “NO! Die, you fucking beast!”

Mustering every bit of strength left in his body, Joe let out a strained groan and desperately shoved the other man down to the floor, maneuvering the gun so that it was aimed at the doctor instead.

Joe’s arms were quivering with the amount of pressure he was applying on them by now, and the longer the brutal fight carried on, the more he thought his bones were going to snap.

But he couldn’t stop now. Not yet.

As much as he hated the idea of killing the doctor, it was the only way he was going to survive this situation.

If he wanted to get out of this alive, he’d have to pull the trigger.

He’d have to.

Realizing that his defeat was imminent, the doctor began to sob in a hysterical manner as the gun got closer to the bottom of his jaw, causing him to blurt out a series of tragic, final words.

“I’ll kill you...!” He whimpered frantically, tears staining his cheeks. “I swear to God, I’ll kill you! You and all of your monster friends! You son-of-a-bitch! Do you hear me?! I’LL KILL Y--”

Cutting the doctor off with a bullet to the head, Joe slammed his finger on the trigger like there was no tomorrow and splattered the other man’s blood all over the pale floor, causing him to shut down for a moment due to shock.

What... what did he just do?

What just happened?

Did he... did he really kill him?

Was that man actually dead?

Did he really just pull that trigger?

...What did he do?

Staring into the doctor’s lifeless eyes, Joe simply sat there in disbelief as he watched the color slowly drain from his face, his head full of nothing but static right now.

What the hell was wrong with the doctor? Why was he acting so crazy? What was he so afraid of? What was he even talking about?

What happened on this ship while Joe was asleep?

What on earth did he miss?

Well... whatever it was, he imagined he’d figure it out soon enough. For now though, he just had to get out of this room.

It was far too quiet in here.

Too silent.

Too... dead.

Joe needed some noise to distract him. Anything.

He needed a way back into reality.

“...oh, fuck...” Joe whispered casually, still unable to process the events that just took place. “Oh, shit. What’d I do? What... what’ve I done?”

Forcing himself to take a few, deep breaths, Joe tore his eyes away from the doctor and glanced around the medical ward for a bit, his body starting to shake like a puppy once the incident finally began to sink in.

“Oh, fuck,” he repeated, glancing at the smoking pistol. “Oh no, no, no, no-- oh, God, please no. Oh, FUCK. What did you do, Joe? What the HELL did you do?”

Putting some distance between him and the corpse, Joe instantly stood up from the floor in a panicked manner and hurriedly backed away, planting himself against the wall.

Before he was able to touch the surface however, the sound of broken glass suddenly caught his attention and he looked downwards, curious to see what exactly he just stepped on.

He lifted his boot from the ground, revealing a fallen photograph.

That must’ve been the object he knocked over earlier.

Momentarily forgetting about what just happened, Joe bent down to pick it up and examined the words that had been scribbled onto the back of the frame, quietly reading them to himself:

“...To Pops, come back soon.”

Flipping the photograph over, Joe felt a sense of relief wash over him when he was greeted by a portrait of Toby, the boy’s face immediately calming him down somewhat.

Even though he had no idea what the boy actually looked like now, it was still comforting for Joe to think about how life might’ve been back at home.

But... how did this picture get here in the first place? Had it always been here? Someone must’ve brought it for Joe.

Charlie, maybe? Wait, no. He was in the brig. Who, then? The sergeant, perhaps?

Joe scoffed to himself. As if.

Well... he supposed it didn’t really matter now.

All that mattered at the moment was getting the hell out of here, and finding a way off this ship.

Joe didn’t know what the hell was happening on this boat, but judging by how it affected the doctor, he couldn’t even imagine the horrors that lay ahead of him.

But he refused to stay put and simply wait for something to kill him.

Joe was going to escape this nightmare, and he was going to make it back home.

He had to.

For his family.

“...I’m coming home, buddy.” Joe said softly, carefully slipping the photo out of the damaged frame.

He folded the picture in half and gently placed it in his pocket, afterwards picking up the doctor’s abandoned gun as well as his key.

It looked like the doctor had secured the entrance with quite a hefty padlock -- probably to keep something out -- but regardless, Joe had to leave. No matter what was roaming around.

He swiftly unlocked the door and swung it open, bracing himself for the terrors that were about to come.

Joe knew that he could never truly be prepared for something such as this, but he took a deep breath and slowly began to walk out anyways, praying to God that he survived the long night ahead.

After all, if what that doctor said was true... then no one was making it off this ship alive. 

No one.


	2. There's Something on this Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the support you gave me on the first part! It really means a lot to me, and it’s so cool to see that you’re enjoying this fanfic so far. I hope you’ll stick around to see more of it. Stay awesome!

1:47 A.M.

Tightness.

That was all he could feel.

It was in his chest, his throat, his breath... even his mind.

As Joe carefully treaded through the ship’s insanely narrow hallways, he took every step with an absurd amount of consideration, admittedly terrified of what could be up ahead.

There were beads of cold sweat lightly trickling down his furrowed brow, and despite it only having been a few minutes, the blood gushing from his ear had already hardened into a sticky texture, causing it to cling uncomfortably to his neck.

It didn’t look like there was anyone else in the immediate vicinity at the moment, but every once in a while, Joe would hear the distant screams of panicked soldiers and erratic gunfire, their cries traveling throughout the ship as if they were trapped within the walls.

It sounded like hell was breaking loose in the other areas of the ship, but so far, Joe had yet to see any movement in this particular corridor.

One wrong move however, and he would probably end up like his comrades soon enough.

He had to be extra careful.

Steadily inching his feet down the flickering hallway, Joe reached a corner at end and placed his hand on the wall, hoping to take a peek of the other side before moving on.

He should’ve been okay for the moment, but after everything that happened in the sick bay, Joe would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t still a little shaky.

It was the first time he killed someone like that, after all.

He could shoot at the enemy well enough, but murdering someone who was on his side -- especially when it was just because of a misunderstanding -- tore Joe apart with guilt.

What if he had explained things better? He wondered.

What if he approached the doctor differently?

Would that man still have attacked him?

Would he still be here?

Joe had no idea.

Shaking these useless thoughts out of his mind, Joe slowly leaned his body into the hallway and took a glimpse of what was around the corner, only to immediately spring back in horror when he spotted a pair of legs being dragged away in the distance.

He couldn’t see what was pulling the corpse or whose body it was, but he overheard a disturbingly meaty squelch that sounded like something was tearing into its innards, nearly making him vomit on the spot.

Jesus fucking Christ...

What the hell had he gotten himself into?

This wasn’t the first time the soldier had witnessed death, but even then, this chaos was something entirely new on its own.

...Wait a minute.

Joe recalled the doctor mentioning some sort of... “creature.” A monster that was following all of them.

Could that have been what he was referring to? Could that have been the monster dragging those legs away?

Was that the same thing that killed Miller?

No, Joe convinced himself. Surely not.

Surely, he was mistaken.

Monsters like that didn’t exist.

The doctor had to have been seeing things.

Still though... it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

Even if Joe didn’t fully believe the doctor just yet, the fact was: people were dead.

And something on this ship was killing them.

Bringing his gun closer to his chest, Joe held the pistol with an iron grip and slowly inched his way around the corner, his hands trembling with an uncontrollable fear.

The squelching noise had stopped for the moment, but now all Joe could hear was something thumping against the floor in an almost rhythmic pattern, sort of like they were footsteps.

Oh, Jesus... what in God’s name was he hearing?

Was the monster walking away from the scene? Was it safe to proceed?

How would Joe even deal with something like that if it detected him?

Were bullets enough to kill it?

There were a million thoughts running through Joe’s head right now, and every single one of them told him to just hide somewhere... but he knew he couldn’t do that.

After all, there was no guarantee that anyone else on this boat was even still alive. Just based on what he had seen already, Joe had no other choice but to assume that everyone else was either dead, or waiting to be killed.

If Joe wanted to get off this ship, he was going to have to contact someone.

He was going to have to reach the radio.

The only problem now... was actually getting there.

Nearly crushing the pistol in his hardened grip, Joe clenched his jaw out of anxiety and practically forced himself to walk around the corner, his heart pounding heavily in his ears as he wandered into a larger room.

It looked like whatever that thing was had run off for now, but in its wake, it left behind a morbid display of blood and gore, including the mauled body of a fallen soldier.

There were bloodstained shreds of clothing scattered all over the floor, a trail of some strange greenish slime, and -- most intriguingly -- a series of numbers written on the wall in what looked like someone’s blood.

Joe instantly flinched at the ghastly sight, almost having to stop himself from immediately turning around.

“Oh... fucking hell...!” The solider whispered with a gag, his gaze nailing itself onto the corpse.

The poor man’s stomach had been ripped open by something horrendously sharp, revealing a repulsive pile of exposed organs. And for some odd reason, it looked like the person’s eyes were completely white, as if they had just been... blanked out by something.

Their face was also stuck in a terrified expression, leading Joe to believe that they had been frightened to death.

...What the hell was going on in this ship?

Tempted to investigate the body, Joe glanced around for a moment before eyeing the corridor in front of him, looking for a way to barricade it.

He was pretty sure that that was where the creature went earlier, and despite it not being around right now, Joe certainly didn’t want it creeping up on him while he was distracted by something.

Rushing over to one of the doors, Joe pushed it open until it was completely blocking the path and held it in place, leaving nothing more than a little slit of space to squeeze through.

Afterwards, he picked out a random crate sitting nearby and used it as a giant doorstop, ensuring that if anyone decided to pursue him, they couldn’t just simply close the barricade shut.

That should’ve been enough to hold back the beast -- he hoped -- but then again... Joe did just witness it drag a full-grown man as if he weighed nothing.

He didn’t know what the limits of this creature’s strength was, but if he was lucky, he’d never have to find out.

Jogging back to the corpse, Joe crouched down and took a closer look at the dog tags hanging around their neck, hoping to figure out who the poor bastard was.

“Oh, shit...” Joe cursed under his breath, suddenly recognizing their face. “B-Buckley? Jesus Christ... what the fuck happened to you, man?”

Examining Buckley’s injuries, Joe stared at the deep lacerations with a revolted expression, trying to understand exactly what on earth killed him.

No human could’ve caused this type of damage. Not with their bare hands, anyway.

It looked like something had been trying to rip him in half by clawing at his abdomen -- but why?

For food, maybe?

The doctor did say this creature -- whatever it was -- had chased after other soldiers before. Maybe it was searching for a meal.

But, no. That wouldn’t make sense. There were no bite marks. Other than Buckley’s stomach, the man appeared to be perfectly intact.

So, what other reason would it have to kill these people in such an awful manner? What was the point in hunting down all these victims?

What the hell was Joe really looking at?

Overwhelmed by confusion and stress, the soldier decided to leave the corpse alone for now and simply rose to his feet, bringing his attention to the writing on the wall instead.

As disturbing as it was to leave a message in blood, Joe had hoped it would’ve been some sort of explanation as to what exactly was going on around here, only to end up with more questions.

He read the smeared text to himself, his eyes narrowing in both fear and skepticism:

“731. LET THE WORLD KNOW.”

Seven, three, one? What did that mean?

Was that some sort of combination? Or maybe a date?

Those numbers carried no significance for Joe.

He had never seen anything of importance involving those numbers, and he didn’t recall the doctor saying anything about them either.

Joe let out an exhausted sigh and dragged a hand down his face, already regretting ever setting foot out of the medical ward.

None of this made any sense.

Something was going around slaughtering people and making them lose their minds. The doctor mentioned that he couldn’t trust anything he saw, and a part of him didn’t even seem to believe that Joe was entirely real.

How could so much have happened within the span of a couple hours? Was anyone even left?

Was Charlie, or the sergeant, or Patterson, or anyone still alive?

Joe quickly shook his head at the thought, afraid to accept he was the only survivor.

“N-No...” he muttered aloud, his breath shivering with worry. “No, there’s no way. This ship’s full of people who are trained to kill. I... I can’t be the only one left. That’s impossible. There has to be someone else. There has to. I just gotta find them.”

A second voice interrupted his thoughts.

“...Joseph...”

Nearly leaping out of his skin at the sudden voice, Joe instantly let out a startled shout and whirled around in terror, only to find the most horrific, distorted creature standing directly behind him.

Its skin was gray and mottled with rot, its head dangled freakishly to the side from a broken neck, its nose had fallen off due to decay, its lips were stretched tautly around a row of sharp teeth, and -- hiding underneath its tangled vines of black hair -- Joe saw a pair of blank eyes sitting lifelessly inside two sunken sockets.

What was most disturbing about this creature though, was how much it resembled a human being. Despite its skeletal physique and hunched-over posture, Joe couldn’t help but notice that it looked somewhat like a woman.

He stumbled to the floor at the terrible sight and helplessly backed towards a wall, aiming his gun at the monster.

“W-What...” Joe stuttered, unable to speak coherently at the moment. “What... what the hell? Who are you?!”

The creature ignored his question and simply repeated his name in a wispy voice, offering no response.

“...Joseph...”

The soldier unloaded a few, thunderous shots straight into its body, only to freeze in shock when the bullets ended up flying right through them.

He glared at his pistol in bewilderment, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“What the fuck?!”

The monster continued with its approach and limped towards the petrified soldier, its emaciated feet sluggishly dragging across the floor as an unholy shriek escaped its mouth.

Oh God, why wasn’t Joe’s gun working?

How was this creature still moving?

Not only did the bullet not harm it, it also seemed to have completely missed its body.

How the hell was Joe going to kill this thing now?

If guns weren’t enough to hurt it... then... what was?

Putting his weapon down, Joe completely plastered himself against the wall out of distress and held up a protective arm, almost hyperventilating as the creature got closer to him.

“N-No...!” He exclaimed desperately, shutting his eyes tight. “Stay back! Get away from me!”

But the beast was relentless.

With every torturous step that it took, Joe could feel its lanky shadow steadily towering over him, gradually blocking out more and more of the light in this area.

There was, realistically speaking, nothing Joe could do to defend himself in this situation.

The creature was supposedly immune to his attacks, and the longer it pursued him, the more Joe prepared for its deadly claws to tear right through him.

Oh, Christ... he was going to end up just like Buckley.

He was going to die right next to him, and become nothing more than another forgotten corpse to add to the pile.

He was going to be ripped to shreds by this inhuman beast, and he was powerless to stop it.

To Joe’s surprise, however... it never happened.

Instead of the excruciating death he had been anticipating, the only thing Joe experienced now was an unexpected silence.

It didn’t sound like the creature was there anymore, and all the light had returned to his vision as if the thing just suddenly disappeared.

There was no more movement. No more growling.

No more danger.

Where... where did it go?

Still sitting on the floor, Joe hesitantly opened his eyes to a slit and lowered his arm, absolutely perplexed about what was happening.

The beast was nowhere to be found.

Did it walk away?

Did it decide to leave him alone?

What... what just happened?

Carefully rising from the floor, Joe brought himself to stand up and used the wall for support, undeniably still trembling from the mysterious encounter.

Unlike a few moments ago, there was no longer any sort of creature threatening to kill him -- and in its place, Joe saw nothing but an inexplicable absence standing in front of him.

What the hell was going on?

Was Joe starting to see things now, too?

Was this what the doctor was talking about?

That would’ve explained why he attacked Joe. Perhaps he saw him as some sort of monster. Or maybe, he thought one of those creatures was disguising themselves as the soldier.

Whatever it was, Joe couldn’t deny that the doctor’s insanity didn’t seem so insane anymore.

At first, Joe simply thought the man had lost his mind due to the war. But now that he had experienced one of these hallucinations for himself, he really couldn’t blame the doctor.

It was starting to affect his own mind just like it affected his, and Joe didn’t even want to think about what other horrors awaited him.

Before he could think about the subject anymore however, the questions racing in Joe’s head instantly came to a halt when he suddenly noticed a new addition to the grotesque scene, sending his mind into a frenzy.

Accompanying Buckley’s mangled corpse, Joe spotted a new body lying motionlessly in one of the corners of the room, its eyes wide open in horror as a puddle of blood began spreading underneath it.

Wait, what the hell?

When did that get there?

Joe didn’t recall finding anyone else’s body when he arrived, but judging by the freshness of the blood, they didn’t die that long ago.

When did this happen?

Cautiously approaching the random corpse, the soldier gazed downwards and took a look at their face, his heart immediately sinking with grief once he recognized them.

“Oh, my God...” Joe breathed out in disbelief. “Charlie? You were here all along? Oh, no.”

But it got worse.

Bringing his gaze to Charlie’s torso, Joe pointed out quite a few bullet wounds sitting in his chest, leading him to a horrifying conclusion as he recalled his recent actions.

Wait a second...

Didn’t he... didn’t he try to shoot that beast earlier?

And didn’t the ammo just phase right through it?

Why didn’t it affect the creature?

Why... why did Charlie have the same amount of bullets in his body as the number of times Joe pulled the trigger...?

...Why... oh no...

Oh, GOD no. Oh, fuck.

Dropping his pistol to the floor, Joe’s mind instantly went into a state of paralysis as he collapsed to his knees, helplessly trying to wake Charlie up once the realization hit him.

Joe killed him.

He killed his only friend on this entire goddamned ship.

This was his fault.

This was all his fault.

“Charlie!” Joe called out, aggressively shaking his body. “Charlie, can you hear me? Oh, fuck... I’m so sorry, Charlie. I didn’t... I didn’t know it was you! I swear I would’ve never shot if I... if I -- oh, Jesus Christ...”

Drained of all energy, Joe gave up on his pointless confessions and simply lay his hands on Charlie’s bloodied chest, not even bothering to hold back the tears spilling from his eyes.

What the fuck was happening on this ship?

Why was everyone dead?

What was the source of these hallucinations?

There was just so much going on all at once, and Joe didn’t even know how to begin unravelling it.

But regardless of how long it would take, or how hard he’d have to fight, Joe was hellbent on learning the truth now.

Something was happening here that the government didn’t want people to know about.

Something was causing his comrades to see their biggest fears, and turn on their fellow soldiers.

Something brought this ship to Manchuria.

And the answer was in the cargo hold.

Joe remembered many of the guards expressing some sort of fear when it came to going down there. Many people, especially Patterson, always tried to find a way out of their shift because they were spooked by something.

But even then, the superiors insisted on surrounding that area with a heavy amount of security.

It was obvious that they didn’t want to leave any chance of their secret being exposed, but after everything Joe had seen tonight, he was going to find out why.

He didn’t care who would try to stop him either.

Whatever they were hiding down there just cost him his best friend, and he’d be damned if he didn’t at least try to blow the whistle on their whole operation.

It was his job, after all, to protect his country.

...Even when it meant protecting it from itself.


End file.
